Editing Gerund (section)

===Function===
The four inflections are used for a limited range of grammatical functions<ref>Palmer, L.R. , 1954, ''The Latin Language'', London. Faber and Faber.</ref>
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Case !! Function !! Example !! Translation || Notes
|-
| Nominative || Subject || no example || || ''infinitive'' used
|-
| Accusative || Object || no example || || ''infinitive'' used
|-
| Accusative || After preposition || ''canes alere ad '''venandum'''''<ref>Terence, ''Andria'' 57.</ref>|| 'to rear dogs for hunting' || after ''ad, in, ob'' and occasionally other prepositions
|-
| Genitive || Modifying abstract noun || '''''pugnandi''' tempus'' || 'time for (lit. of) fighting'|| nouns include ''occasio, tempus, causa, gratia''
|-
| Dative || Expressing purpose || '''''auscultando''' operam dare'' || 'apply effort to listening' || after verbs, e.g., ''studeo, operam dare'' and adjectives, e.g., ''natus, optimus''
|-
| Ablative || Instrumental || '''''pugnando''' cepimus'' || 'we took by fighting' || became undistinguishable from '''participle''' use, thus providing the ''gerundio'' forms in [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], which are used instead of forms derived from Latin present participles
|}
These functions could be fulfilled by other abstract nouns derived from verbs such as ''vēnātiō'' 'hunting'. Gerunds are distinct in two ways.
* Every Latin verb can regularly form a gerund
* A gerund may function syntactically as the head of a [[verb phrase]]: for instance, the gerund of a transitive verb may take a direct object in the accusative case, e.g., ''ad '''discernendum''' vocis verbi figuras'' 'for discerning figures of speech', ''hominem '''investigando''' opera dabo'' 'I will devote effort to investigating the man'.
:: However, this was a rare construction. Writers generally preferred the ''[[gerundive]]'' construction, in which the gerundive adjective was inflected to agree with the noun acting as its object: e.g., ''res '''evertendae''' reipublicae'' 'matters concerning the overthrow of the state' (literally 'of the state being overthrown').

When people first wrote grammars of languages such as English, and based them on works of Latin grammar, they adopted the term ''gerund'' to label non-finite verb forms with these two properties.